Survival
by SepticMind
Summary: It's hours after Raven first arrives on earth. After being rejected by the Justice League she finds her way to Jump City and with nothing but her thoughts goes wandering only to cross paths with a threesome who's names mean trouble. AU. What if she hadn't found the Titans first?
1. Chapter 1

Alone. For the first time in her life, sat in the empty bowls of a building raised for the worship of her father, Raven learnt what it felt like to be truly alone. She was familiar with the feeling of being different and _apart_ from the rest of Azarath's population, and she had even learnt to enjoy solitude, but she didn't like this. She felt lost, abandoned, damned. It almost made her regret her decision to run from Azarath. Almost.

Raven's plan, something she'd spent months working on after first hearing about Earth's vigilantes, had backfired not even an hour after she'd reached the ruin of the city her Mother had once called home. And it had all _started_ so well.

 _Like she had predicted, the huge influx of magic that dispersed as the spell temporarily connecting Azarath to this dimension broke down – coupled with her unique psychic signature – quickly grabbed the attention of the so called 'Justice League'. She'd no more than walked two blocks of polluted, trash-lined streets when the first member of the elite team approached her. It wasn't, though, who she'd expected to find her._

 _In Raven's head, she'd theorised that, if close enough to her site of arrival, the Justice League's sorceress would notice the acute rise in residual magic and that rise would be large enough to warrant her attention. Failing that, there was the team's telepath. According to her limited sources on Azarath Martian Manhunter, a creature from the planet Mars, was one of the strongest telepaths the universe had to offer. Raven had been taught to shield her mind, but she'd let these defences drop in the hopes that this 'Martian' would notice her. The Justice League were supposed to be the protectors of America, and the rest of earth. If a strong demonic presence didn't warrant their attention, what did?_

 _But it wasn't their telepath that stood carefully watching her, or even the sorceress. It was the one member of the team she'd least expected to find her, and the member her sources had known least about. Batman._

 _Stood in the drizzling rain, the two spent a good few minutes silently regarding each other before the caped crusader spoke._

" _I know_ what _you are. You have one chance to return to wherever you just came from."_

 _She_ had _expected to receive such a greeting, and she slowly raised her hands in a way that she'd read was both an act of peace and surrender on Earth. "I'm not here with the conscious intent of causing harm or chaos. I simply wish to talk."_

 _Raven was overwhelmed by his suspicion, the emotion leaving a bitter tang on her tongue. Her eyes dropped to the hand hovering near his utility belt, ready to draw a weapon, before she found his face again in time to watch the man ask, "Talk with who?"_

 _She'd rehearsed her response and took a deep breath, looking the human man directly in the eyes as she answered, "I wish to talk with the Justice League. In three years time, late into the summer, your dimension will become host to an unimaginable evil. I need your help to make sure it does not come to pass."_

 _Batman frowned at her, confusion joining the emotions swirling around her. "Who are you?"_

" _She is Raven, Daughter of Trigon."_

 _The hero flinched just as hard as the empath jumped, both having been caught out. Raven only just resisted the urge to turn and find the source of the voice behind her. She hadn't felt his approach, and it gave the empath and idea on who it was. She kept her hands in the air and her eyes on the Dark Knight as she asked, "Martian Manhunter by any chance?"_

" _You can lower your hands, child."_

 _Raven did, though slowly, while Batman protested, "If she's the daughter of_ Trigon _we should be-"_

" _Peace, friend. She doesn't mean harm. She was telling the truth when she told you she only wants to talk."_

 _The empath finally turned towards the voice, finding a man of imposing height and build, his skin a startling shade of green. Figuring she had opened her mind for long enough she replaced her shields, receiving a small, knowing smile from the alien._

" _Come – Zatanna, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Doctor Fate are waiting not far away." He told his fellow superhero before addressing Raven, "You wanted our attention, young demon, and you have it."_

" _What did you invite Doctor Fate for?" Batman asked, Raven picked up on his feelings of displeasure._

 _Martian Manhunter motioned for Raven to walk beside him before he said, "What you are looking at Batman is a demon halfling – a natural agent of chaos. You know how Zatanna can get about such things. When she insisted on coming, I decided a mediator might be in order."_

" _Was there some news letter I missed? A note on a calendar? Why does everyone seem to know who she is?"_

" _They don't, though Nabu recognised the name, and Raven has kindly allowed me insight._ Someone _did their research," He said, looking down at the empath._

" _Then you know why I'm here? I_ needed _to talk to you – you might be the only ones with the power to help me." Raven replied a little too earnestly._

" _This 'evil' you mentioned?" Batman asked, deciding for the moment to trust his friend's judgement._

 _Raven opened her mouth to explain, but before she could speak, the telepath told them, "Later, when everyone is present. We're not far now."_

 _And they weren't. Raven quickly became aware of four other presences, some stronger than others, giving her reason to feel the first hint of fear that passed through her. She was unused to being near such potential 'powerhouses' and she was finding she didn't like it._

 _Martian Manhunter led them into a large courtyard between two buildings where the four people he'd mentioned stood quietly talking. The conversation stopped when they caught sight of her, a woman in some representation of a stage magician's outfit gasping loudly before – with incredible speed – pointing at Raven and shouting, "niahC reh!"_

 _As soon as they words had left her lips, from the line of her hand shot a metal chain, flying through the air purposely towards Raven. The empath's eyes widened in shock and slight fear, and the end of the chain was only milliseconds away from reaching her when she disappeared in a swirl of darkness._

 _Zatanna had quickly received glares from her companions, but before anyone could accuse her of chasing the demon off, Raven re-appeared on the far corner of the courtyard, her eyes wide with shock but away from immediate harm. She suddenly found herself glad it hadn't been the sorceress she'd encountered first._

It had only spiralled downhill from there. After another attempted attack and several insults and accusations, Raven had explained herself, the prophecy and her presence on Earth before pleading for their help. They'd put it to a vote, and only Martian Manhunter and Wonder Woman – who'd Raven learnt was herself a halfling daughter of a well known and influential deity – had been ready to trust her plea. When it became evident that there was a tie, Green Lantern having sided with Zatanna while Batman and Doctor Fate remained unaligned, talk had turned to _how_ they would stop such a threat and magical banishment was only one of a few things that had been mentioned. It was not the kind of solution Raven had been looking for. Zatanna had finally told her to leave and take her 'lies' with her, convinced the young halfling had some darker superior motive and Raven hadn't hesitated.

In her desperation to get as far away from the witch and her disappointment as she could, she'd ended up in the State of California. More specifically, Jump City, a currently insignificant place that would one day become the centrepiece in the destruction of the planet.

Hours had passed since her rejection in Gotham City, but Raven's anger was still almost as strong as her feelings of isolation, and the intensity of it scared her slightly. Sat in the cavernous but skilfully carved chamber that was to welcome her father, atop the rising hand that foretold His coming, the empath decided she needed a distraction to take her mind off the thoughts meditation could not.

* * *

Jump City was the opposite to Gotham in just about every way possible. Gotham had been wet, dirty and dangerous. Every rain drenched corner had seemed to hold either a gang, prostitute or drug dealer, even in the early hours of the wet morning. The streets of Jump City, however, were as silent as the grave even despite the warm night air. She wandered down the road labelled 'Main Street', sticking close to the front of the building in an attempt to avoid the orange glow of the street lamps. Raven wasn't in any rush as she studied the objects displayed in the windows, some familiar while others so very different and – in her eyes – frivolous. She had heard of Earth's greed and needless extravagance but she had never expected it to encompass _so much_.

She felt the group before she saw them, a mixture of sweet excitement and tangy anxiety leading her to an alleyway between two buildings. The one on the right seemed to supply a variety of kitchen-wear though Raven couldn't have said what half of it was. The other – the one the group seemed to be trying to gain access to – wasn't displaying anything, a metal blind covering the front wall. It attracted her attention as odd, unable to understand what they could possibly be hiding.

Out of the three teenagers, the girl caught her attention first, her cotton-candy pink hair like a beacon in the dark. She was stood in front of a side door that led into the covered shop, one hand on the door handle. She was flanked by two boys. The calmest of the pair was easily over six feet tall and towered over both his companions and Raven, the broadness of his shoulders and his thick muscles seeming to add to his height. It was in stark contrast to the other male, the source of the feelings of anxiety, who couldn't have even been four feet tall, his head bald while the other supported a mane of auburn hair.

Raven silently made her way down the alleyway towards them, completely concealed by the shadows. The girl was cursing as she fought with the lock on the door. She threw something behind her than landed on the concrete with a metallic ring before she motioned her hand towards the door. Pink waves of energy left her finger tips, lighting up her pale skin the millisecond it took to be absorbed by its target. She tried to open the door again, putting her foot against the wall for leverage when it didn't open, Raven picking up on her mounting frustration.

"This is so _stupid,_ " She hissed quietly as she stepped back. "We gotta find another way in."

"What other way?" The smaller boy asked irritably. "Through the metal screen? Do you even _know_ how much noise that would make? Why the hell aren't your hexes working?"

"Because I can't control them like that, dummy. I don't tell them what to do, it's completely down to chance. Like Mario Cart racing. Sometimes you get the invincibility star, and other times you get the stupid banana peel you slip on yourself on the next lap. You _know_ that."

"How 'bout a window?" The larger boy offered. "You two can go in and pass stuff to me."

"Do you even _see_ an uncovered window, clutch head?" The other boy asked harshly.

"Will both of you just shut up? This was meant to be an easy job! If we can't do this, the Headmistress will have our hides!"

Despite growing up on a pacifist community, raised by the very pinnacle of peace, Raven knew a threat when she heard one, and she only hesitated a moment before deciding to help them. They didn't spot the cloaked stranger until she was stood next to the girl with the pink hair. The sudden wave of emotion she felt pour off them matched their noises of alarm, but she ignored them as she studied the lock on the door.

Growing up she'd known very few locked doors. The first one she'd come across had been when she was eight. The leader of Azarath, head of the Temple and her teacher, Azar III, had passed away the week before, and someone had decided to lock her chambers in the Temple until the time of mourning had passed. Staring at the thick, wooden door, a door in her mind that would be forever closed, it'd taken her an hour to realise she could use her soul self to tweak the lock mechanism and open the door – a more preferable option to teleporting or making her body intangible, both she had been yet to master.

Looking at the lock in front of her now, she repeated the technique, touching the tips of her fingers to the keyhole and releasing a small amount of her soul self, feeding it through until she found what she thought to be one of the tiny cogs, turning it and unlatching the lock. She pushed the door open, the feelings of the teenagers behind her going from alarm to shock and suspicion.

Raven stepped back and shyly glanced at them, the girl's bright pink cat eyes instantly grabbing and holding her attention.

"Do we know you?" The girl asked, her lilted voice harsh and accusing.

"You… looked like you needed assistance." Raven replied slowly and quietly.

The girl looked away from the empath and motioned for the two boys to enter the building as she told them "I've got this" before turning her attention back onto Raven. "You're obviously not from around here."

"And here I was thinking I blended in perfectly." She spoke before thinking, but the stranger grinned, the smile reaching those kitty-cat eyes.

"Alright. You got me there." The smile faded as she asked, "What do you want? An audition? In on the profits? What?"

Raven frowned, struggling to keep up with the conversation. "I don't think I understand."

"Why help?" The girl asked slowly. "You gotta be hopin' to get something out of it."

"I…" She paused, not entirely sure _why_ she had herself. They were obviously thieves – a crime that had a serious punishment of Azarath, most thieves offering a hand instead of undergoing the other option, though a few in the past had made it to the Temple and called for refuge where they spent the rest of their lives under the roof of the Temple as Monks, free for the guards as soon as they stepped outside the grounds. She had definitely never been taught to aid such people with their crimes.

She studied the girl from her peculiar hairstyle to her platform boots before offering, "Pink just happens to be my favourite colour."

"I like you." The girl grinned. "You know what you're talking about. I'm Jinx."

"Raven." She replied, offering a small smile.

"Well then Raven, since you oh so kindly helped up break in, we'll split some of the goods your way. _If_ you join the heist."

Raven looked over the thief's shoulder at the building. She could hear the two boys moving around inside despite their attempts at being quiet. She knew she should have said no and walked away – knew she'd already gone too far – but she found she liked Jinx's relaxed manner and the way she was talking to her. It gave her a taste of what it was like to be normal, to be anyone but her, and for the first time since finding Azar's door locked, she gave in to temptation with a small, dark smile.

"How could I say no to that?"

"And you know, you could hang around for a while afterwards if you're not in too much of a rush."

Raven considered that, thinking about the large cavernous rooms that had some point become her shelter. It was the last place she wanted to go, and she made herself a promise to avoid it for as long as she could. "That would be… nice."

The robbery went pretty much as Raven had expected, for all but one detail. The cops never showed up. After entering the building and finding it to be a jewellers, Jinx had been quick to give Raven the lay down in three basic rules.

Rule one; keep quiet. Sure, it was the middle of the night in an un-residential area, but you never knew who was within hearing range.

Rule two; take whatever you could get your hands on. According to the pink-haired thief, they would put their 'loot' together back at the trio's place and from it Raven would be able to pick out her percentage – her payment for helping the group.

Rule three; if something looked like it might be wired up to an alarm, _leave it alone_. Call either Jinx or Gizmo over to look at it.

Raven quickly learnt that rule three was irrelevant to someone with her talents – any form of alarm or barrier was irrelevant when she could travel through them with the black mass known as her soul self. The ease of her acquisitions didn't go unnoticed, and Jinx wore a large smile the entire time they were in the building. They'd filled two backpacks before the cat-eyed thief decided to call it a job well done.

She walked over to the empath and told her, "Now this is the tricky bit – getting' back to the base without being seen." A bag slung over her shoulder, full of everything from earrings to cut and polished stones Gizmo had found in a safe he'd cracked, she walked towards the door they'd entered through, Raven following her. "We're currently based in the old industrial estate, south-east side of town."

"That means absolutely nothing to me." Raven muttered. "I doubt I've even been in the city six hours."

Jinx paused to look at her in surprise. "You really aren't from around here then?"

"I'm really not." The empath smiled slightly.

"So what brings you to Jump?" Jinx asked, before recalling where they were and saying, "You know what, hold that thought until we're at the base."

"Jinx's got the attention span of a goldfish." The small boy Raven had yet to be introduced to said, appearing next to them. He carefully studied the empath with his light blue eyes. "I'm Gizmo."

"Raven."

"The lumberjack over there goes by Mammoth," He motioned towards the giant of a boy still making his way towards them before looking at Jinx. "We ready to go?"

The girl slowly opened the door leading out of the building and poked her head out, looking down the alleyway towards the street. "Looks clear."

She stepped out and motioned for the others to join her, Mammoth having to duck low to fit through the doorway. Jinx closed the door behind them, frowning when Raven stepped up to it, using her soul self once more to lock it.

Feeling the girl's confusion, she explained, "I'm locking the door. They longer it takes for them to realise something's amiss, the better it is for us."

"I like your thinking." The meta human grinned. "Right, we'll stick to the alleyways as much as we can. The sooner we get some distance between us and the upmarket areas of town, the-"

"What is that?"

Jinx turned to glare at the short boy for interrupting them, but lifted her gaze to the sky when she saw Gizmo trying to point out whatever had gained his attention. Raven's first instinct was to call it a shooting star, though she'd never heard of any bright green stars, stationary or otherwise. She was happy she wasn't the only one at loss, for it was clear both through their emotions and their faces that her new acquaintances had no idea what it was either.

"You don't think it's Green Lantern do you?" Mammoth finally asked, oblivious to Raven's reaction as she paled slightly, her hands clenching into fists.

Jinx shook her head. "Nah, this aint his turf, and even if it _was_ he wouldn't be interested in us. Don't he mostly deal in aliens and stuff?"

The green light continued to fall towards the city at a frightening speed until it was close enough that the four teenagers would hear a hum of energy. Raven tried to pick out the shape of the green vigilante within the glow, while Jinx, Mammoth and Gizmo nervously backed up, the small boy declaring, "Whatever it is, it's gonna crash!"

And it did, no more than a few blocks away. The ground vibrated under their feet, and a cloud of dust, illuminated green, was thrown up into the air. There was a moment of silence as everything settled, then the distant sound of a scream, followed by police sirens.

"Think it's time we disappeared." Jinx announced before she started moving at a quick pace.

Raven continued to stare at the dust still in the air for a moment, her natural curiosity all but begging her to check it out, but she didn't, deciding instead to stick with these three strangers as she ran after them as they threatened to disappear from sight.

Their self proclaimed base was the basement level of an abandoned factory, but the three had obviously altered it to their needs. The place had a smell of wet paint and cement, and the pink-eyed thief was quick to explain it.

"We haven't been based here long, but security's everything. Don't think of trying to enter this place on your own. Since Jump will probably be the location of all our assignments for a while, we thought we might as well make a bit of a home out of it. All the walls and appliances are new, though not everything's working yet. The kitchen and the TV are, of course."

Raven wasn't entirely sure what a 'TV' was, but she nodded, before asking, "Assignments? So you don't 'work' for yourselves?"

"Don't you _dare_." Gizmo spoke up before Jinx could reply. "You know the rules."

"Oh come on – I like her! Besides, you saw the way she worked tonight. Think of the possibilities."

Raven didn't quite like being talked about as though she wasn't there, but she didn't say anything.

"Think of the consequences!" The bald boy retaliated, and Jinx shook her head with an irritated sigh before she smiled at Raven and changed the subject.

"So, back to my earlier question, since now is probably a better time to ask. What brought you to Jump?"

Raven shrugged, not sure how to answer but able to guess from her interaction with the Justice League that the entire truth wasn't perhaps the best idea. "I… needed to get away from stuff. I didn't choose Jump City in particular; it was just where I ended up."

"You're a runaway?" Mammoth's gruff voice asked, and she thought about that before nodding.

She had certainly run from the Justice League with her tail between her legs, even if her departure from Azarath could be looked upon as more of a defiance. After all, she wasn't running from her destiny – she'd come to earth to _face it_. "Something like that."

"Join the club." Jinx muttered, before asking, "Where you from?"

"I'd rather not tell you, if it's all the same to you. I don't know you well enough for that."

The girl shrugged. The white hallway they'd been travelling down finally ended with a door, and they stepped through into a living room type setting. Like everything else the floor was bare concrete, and the walls the first base coat of white. Two black sofas had been placed in the middle of the room, facing a good sized screen Raven finally clicked on as being a 'TV' – they'd been labelled as such in some of the shops Raven had passed on Main Street before bumping in to these individuals.

Jinx moved into the centre of the room and dumped the bag she'd been carrying onto the floor, Raven following suit with Mammoth and Gizmo before the meta human tipped everything out and tossed the bags aside. She studied their hoard with a cat like grin.

"I bet we've got more than our quota's worth here." She looked up at her two team mates. "Think we should set a bit aside to go towards this place?"

Gizmo frowned slightly. "I dunno, I mean think about the _rewards_ we'd get if we dragged in all this."

After a moment of studying the assortment of jewellery, Jinx motioned at it, watching Raven. "As promised, take several times of your choice."

The empath didn't move, struggling to see what she could possibly do with such trinkets. She eventually shook her head. "You keep them. To go towards this place. I don't need it."

The girl frowned. "You need _somethin'_ to live off."

"She said she didn't want it." Gizmo quickly pointed out, not interested in giving the stranger a second chance as he picked out and carefully studied four rings, a diamond bracelet and a loose deep blue stone before setting them aside. "That should be enough for me to start on a semi-decent computer system."

"Where are you living at the moment?" Jinx asked.

"Some abandoned building. No big deal."

"You mean you're squatting? Girl, you need the money. Seriously, you earned it."

Raven shook her head. "No, thank you. I mean, it was sort of fun and it was nice of you to include me, but if I need something I'm sure I'll find a way of… _acquiring_ it as and when I need it. It's yours."

"You're crazy." Mammoth mumbled, and Jinx found herself agreeing with him.

"At least stay the night here. We have central heating, a spare mattress and plenty of food."

"Say what?" Gizmo snapped. "Yeah, she did a great job and we're all grateful, but _stay here_?"

"Yeah." Jinx said, before frowning at her team mate. "Come on, it's not like we've got anything set up. The only useful security detail she'll get is where our base is, and you've secured it so…"

The small boy glared at the meta human for a moment before relenting. "Okay." He pointed at Raven, "But don't think that means I like you."

After repacking the bags and moving them aside, the group settled down on the sofas, and once more an argument broke out between Gizmo and Jinx as the conversation went back to who the three worked for.

Jinx won, and she told the empath, "We don't work for them exactly. We're students. The school trains metas – and the odd special kid like Giz – for mercenary-type work. Those who graduate run everything from bounty hunter services to assassinations, to criminal organisations, to black ops, to general thieves for hire. Every now and then we'll be given a field assessment like today to check our progress." Seeing Raven's sceptical face she added, "The school feeds us, gives us somewhere to live. Most of the students there have run from something. It's safer than squatting in dodgy areas and it's kind of fun. You even admitted you enjoyed today."

"That's great," Raven shrugged indifferently. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Well, you've obviously got skills and… maybe we can talk to the Headmistress for you? Get you a place?"

"You mean maybe _you_ can talk to her." Gizmo muttered, and Jinx glared at him.

"Since you don't want your part of the stash, how about _that_ bein' your payment? I mean, unless you have a few jobs lined up? Good luck though – if you haven't got a top notch resume people around here tend be kinda wary of people with unnatural skin and eye colours."

Raven frowned slightly. The idea of having to get a paying job to survive hadn't occurred to her when she'd left Azarath. She'd never owned a cent in her life, and never needed to. The Temple had provided her with everything. "I don't have a resume – I don't even have a passport." She'd come across the concept of passports in her reading, and Azarath had a similar system for guests.

Going out on a limb, Jinx already sure she knew the answer, she asked, "Exactly what ID do you have?"

"I… don't. I didn't think about that."

The three teenagers stared at the girl, suddenly unsure as to whether she was naive or just stupid. Mammoth was the first one to speak. "H.I.V.E can sort that out for you. They did with Jinx."

"Guys! Seriously! We don't know who the hell she is! Aren't you even _slightly_ worried she's some sort'a spy?" Gizmo asked in disbelief.

"You're just paranoid." Jinx frowned, though her eyes seemed a little harder as she studied Raven again. "So, what do you say?"

"I'll think about it."

"Well, we'll be leaving for the academy tomorrow. You're welcome to stay the night even if you decide against coming with us tomorrow."

Raven nodded, flashing them a small smile. "Thanks."

* * *

Raven jerked awake, her panic intensified by the unfamiliar surroundings before she remembered where she was. She sat up, studying the bare walls of the room as she waited for the beating of her heart to slow down. The empath wasn't a stranger to nightmares, and it was a rare night she slept peacefully. She let her head drop onto her raised knees as the last dregs of sleep left her, leaving her very much awake, and very miserable.

The dreams usually followed on theme – the reason she'd left Azarath, the reason she'd approached the Justice League and the reason for why she was suddenly seriously considering taking the three teenagers up on their offer. Sat on her own, with the time to really think about it she realised that it was potentially a gold mine of contacts to aid her, should she need it.

She got out of the 'bed' – a somewhat lumpy and obviously old mattress on the floor – and pulled on her cloak before making her way down the dark corridors, through the living room and into the small kitchen. She continued to silently debate about going, finding a counter argument for every reason she found for it being a good idea, her biggest argument against going being that any place that set assignments to _steal stuff_ wasn't the kind of place she should really be thinking about going. It was the easy way out of something she thought she probably deserved, and she could almost imagine Azar's response to the idea, the disappointment on her face…

Raven switched the kettle on, grabbing a chipped mug from one of the cupboards before she searched for the teabags.

"Try the narrow cupboard next to the fridge. They're probably behind the coffee. I take my tea with milk and two sugars."

Raven jumped at the sound of Jinx's voice, making the girl laugh.

"Relax. I'm not gonna bite."

Raven heard the thief enter the kitchen but didn't turn to look at her until she'd searched the suggested cupboard and found the teabags. "What are you? Psychic?" The empath frowned at her, before finding another mug.

"You just look like a tea drinker. Besides, there's only a few reasons for why someone would want to drink coffee at this ungodly hour." The meta human was leant against the kitchen counters, dressed in nothing but a baggy grey shirt that hit her mid thigh, the collar threatening to slide off her left shoulder.

Jinx looked different with her hair down – softer – and staring at the thick waves that reminded Raven of how her own hair looked if she'd slept with it still damp, she wondered how Jinx could be bothered to spend so much time styling it.

"So, you leavin' already?"

Raven shook her head. "No, I just… couldn't sleep." She turned away from the girl as the kettle announced the water was ready, filling the two mugs before stepping back and trying to decide which drawer looked like it might hold teaspoons. Jinx got there first, shoving Raven aside with a small smile.

"I've got it – couldn't have you thinkin' I'm a bad hostess now. There should be a pot of sugar where you found the teabags. You mind?" Jinx waited until Raven had passed her the pot before asking, "So, having you made your mind up yet?"

"I'm… not exactly sure I have much of a choice, do I?"

Jinx shrugged, looking at the girl. "You could always go home. You have any sugar?"

"No. No milk either."

"Well, I do. I'm sure you can find the milk without my help."

The empath smiled slightly, the idea of staying with the group becoming more appealing as she realised Jinx's off hand manner almost made her feel like she could have been any other teenager. She stepped round Jinx to reach the fridge, grabbing an open carton of milk and putting it on the counter top. The thief was all too aware that the girl hadn't responded to her comment, but she decided to keep quiet as she fished the teabags out of the mugs and stirred in some milk into one.

Staying silent paid off as Raven eventually said, "I'd… like to take you up on your offer, if it's still open."

Jinx grinned as she passed the empath her mug. "Good. It'd be nice to no longer be the minority of the group. Come on – let's sit down and I'll give you the 101 on the academy."

* * *

 **AN:** Long time, no post! So I WAS planning to post for "A Stroke Of Bad Luck" next but I'm at my partner's and I forgot my notebook and we're in the middle of a heatwave and this was already finished on my computer (though I had planned on writing at least half of the story before posting it). Ah well. As always, reviews are much appreciated. Again, sorry about my absence but life has been busy busy busy. Thanks for your patience.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN:** Thanks for all the reviews guys. If you were signed in, you should have received a reply. If not, well sign in next time!

Sorry this has taken so long (and with my other ongoing stories) long story short I got a promotion to line manager and I have been so busy with training and stuff.

(…)

Raven had yet to be told what H.I.V.E stood for, though she could tell whoever designed the school, they had gotten plenty of inspiration from the word it spelt. A little too much, in fact. The academy was a maze of hexagonally shaped, yellow corridors as though they had indeed managed to find themselves within a bee's hive. It certainly hadn't been designed to be relaxing, and the empath felt as though the ceiling was slowly lowering, an illusion caused by the weird angles of the walls.

Jinx led her through the building at a quick pace, every now and then reminding Raven to "keep close". She recalled the first thing the cat-eyed meta human had told her about the academy the previous night after they'd sat down with their mugs of tea.

" _The headmistress of the academy is one mean bitch. People are usually recruited for the academy by scouts, and I aint one of them, so you really need to impress her. Don't waste any time on modesty – sell yourself as best you can."_

It hadn't made her eager to join, until she remembered all the possible resources it would give her to throw against her father. She wasn't entirely sure on how she was supposed to 'sell' herself, but it was clear Jinx had confidence in her, and she tried to draw from that.

Gizmo and Mammoth weren't with them. Jinx had – rather protectively – sent them off to their classes, telling them she could handle it. It had been clear from the moment she'd first talked to the group that Jinx was their 'leader' but she hadn't expected to see such close ties of friendship between such different people. It made her wonder exactly what Jinx was protecting them from. Perhaps the same thing the driver who'd picked them up had been worried about? What had he said? Raven could remember it being a vulgar remark involving his manhood, but she tried not to recall his exact words – some things just weren't meant to be remembered.

Jinx led them down a corridor without any doors, the student population instantly disappearing to just the two of them.

"Remember what I said." Jinx spoke up. "She's a hard woman to impress, and if she doesn't like you, well let's just say you won't have to worry about living on the streets again – you won't have to worry about living anywhere." Seeing the dubious expression on Raven's face, she patted the girl on the back, oblivious when the empath jumped from the sudden contact. "You'll be fine, just… watch what you say."

Raven nodded. "Sell myself, but watch what I say." She paused before she asked, "Exactly how do I 'sell' myself?"

"Talk about your abilities – everythin' you can do, don't hold back on the details – and I'll mention your role in our successful heist." They came to a door at the end of the corridor, both girls coming to a stop. "You ready?"

As Raven nodded, Jinx stepped up and knocked on the steel door. A voice didn't greet them, instead after a moment's wait the door slid open, air locks gently hissing as they released their pressure. The woman inside the office, sat behind a well polished mahogany, was wearing an expression as tight and no-nonsense as the bun her grey hair was pulled back in, her black skirt-suit just as impeccable. Raven had never seen a head teacher of any sorts before, but the specimen sat before her was exactly what she'd come to expect through reading the sparse few fictional books she'd found in Azarath. With the woman's harsh gaze on her, Raven felt like she was back in the Temple of Azar, about to be scalded by one of the monks. She didn't need to be told that her presence wasn't a surprise to the Headmistress. Jinx hadn't been kidding when she'd said nothing went on in the academy without the woman hearing about it.

Her gaze turned onto Jinx as she said, "I'm disappointed. As one of our top students, you of all people should know the regulations and understand _why_ we have them."

It was all moving a little too quickly for Raven, and she felt as though she was reading a book that had missing pages. The thief, however, seemed unfazed. "I know, and I _do_ understand but-"

"There _are_ no 'buts', "She interrupted harshly as she stood, moving out from behind the desk towards them. "Our institute needs a high amount of anonymity for a reason. You don't know who this girl is any more than me. But the damage is already done." The woman's tone softened towards the end, but it wasn't comforting. She circled Raven like a vulture, inspecting her from every angle as though she really were for sale. Coming to a stop in front of the girl she inquired, "What are you? A meta human?"

Raven hesitated, unsure if she should be honest or not. She recalled the Justice League's reaction to her, and compared it to the way Jinx treated her in her ignorance. "I'm a meta human," she eventually nodded.

"I take it you have a name."

"Raven. My name's Raven."

The headmistress frowned irritably. "I don't believe I got your surname."

"I… don't have one." She quickly lied.

"Everyone has some sort of family name." The woman pointed out, but when the violet-haired teenager didn't reply, she shrugged. "Very well – it's no skin off my nose. How did you meet my student?"

"I saw them struggling to get into a building in Jump City, and helped." She looked at Jinx, silently asking for help.

The girl stepped forward. "She got us in Ma'am, and helped us clean the place before giving us her share."

"The girl has a tongue – she can speak for herself." The headmistress replied and Jinx quickly stepped back with a nod. "Exactly what do you think the H.I.V.E Academy is, _Raven_?"

"… A place that trains people. Mercenaries, and… other types of hired help."

The woman leaned against her desk. "Not _just_ 'people'. We train for a much more specific clientele, and to an exceptionally high standard. We _don't_ make a habit of accepting new trainees as old as yourself. I am assuming you are around sixteen?"

"Fifteen, Ma'am." Raven quickly corrected.

"This school is dedicated to producing the world's best mercenaries, trained so they can complete _any_ job they might be hired for. We don't have the time for incompetence, or people who aren't receptive to the program. So, exactly what makes you think you'd be worth the academy's time?"

The young demon halfling glanced at Jinx, the girl nodding encouragingly. "I… have several abilities which I think you'll find adaptable to most situations."

"Go on."

"I can use a form of telekinesis. I am a trained sorceress, an empath and a telepath in theory, though it's not something I've used before. I can also teleport both short distances and longer distances with magical assistance." Raven listed uncertainly, not entirely sure she should be sharing so much about herself with a stranger.

For a moment she could have sworn she saw the woman smile, but then again she might have imagined it. "Very well. I'll take your word for it, for now. I expect you to go to the gym at half one today, where one of our trainers will be ready to assess you. In the mean time…" The headmistress turned her back on the girls and moved away from her desk towards the filing cabinets lining one of the walls. "… I'll need you to fill out some paperwork."

Raven saw Jinx's smile, and knew it meant she was in, for now. The strict woman voiced that with her next words. "You might want to be sure you read the small-print before signing anything. To put it simply, by becoming a student of this academy you agree to work for the academy for a minimum of three years upon your graduation. Refusal of this could end with anything from legal action to you 'disappearance' with all your funds and assets liquidated and given to the Academy. I don't expect you to be among our top students for the first few weeks, however I do expect you to show significant and constant improvement from your starting assessments. Should you fail to prove personal growth, the academy has no use for you. Should you prove to be a disruptive influence, the academy has no use for you." The fact that she still had her back turned to Raven didn't give her words any less impact. "Now, I assume you have a birth certificate?"

"No. I don't. I'm not from America." Raven quickly shook her head. "I don't hold any form of recognisable identification."

"Very well." She moved to another drawer of the filing cabinet before moving back towards the empath, passing her several sheets of paper. "I want all of them filled out and signed and back on my desk for five pm. Should you have any trouble, I'm confident Jinx will be able to help you. If, after the first few weeks I am happy with your performance, I will see about creating you an American identity. Jinx," she turned to look at the meta human, "I will inform your teachers that you'll be absent from today's classes. I want you to introduce the academy to our newest student. And remember, if this doesn't work out, it'll be on your head." The headmistress sat down behind her desk. "You're both dismissed."

"Why would you do that?" Raven asked Jinx as the thief led them away from the office, and the girl frowned at her.

"Do what?"

"Put yourself in trouble for my sake? I heard what she said as well as you did."

Jinx shrugged, offering the empath a smile. "Sometimes you just need to take the initiative with these things. You're right, if this doesn't pay off I'm gonna be in serious trouble, but if I'm right about you, and I think I am, not only could it pay off with the headmistress, we could get another member on our team."

"But still… you hardly know me."

"And you didn't know us at all when you decided to help last night." Jinx pointed out. "Now, lets talk paperwork. Show me what the headmistress gave you." She held her hand out, and Raven passed over the sheets of paper. Jinx quickly flicked through them with only mild interest. "So, when you said you're a trained sorceress, were you talking black cats and hex bags or..?"

"I was talking sorcery, not witchcraft, though don't misunderstand me, the craft is respectable in its own right."

"Just checking." The thief grinned. "About seventy percent of people who talk about 'magic' can't tell a spell from a curse."

"And you can?"

"I've dabbled a bit." The girl shrugged. "I have a knack for curses and not much else, but then I _am_ all about the bad luck. Right, we'll grab a seat somewhere and start filling these out before I warn you about the monster you'll be facing off against at half one, because let me tell you now, you'll need preparing for that."

"Monster?"

"If I'm right with my thinking, and I usually am, the trainer the headmistress want you to see is none other than Mrs Connelly – one of the meanest teachers in this place. She teaches the girls fitness classes. Either than, or Mr Reilly, and he makes _Mammoth_ look small."

"So what? She's going to get them to… beat me up or something? Raven asked, and Jinx winced.

"More or less, though technically it's called 'testing your strengths' or some bull. All you need to keep in mind is that Mrs Connelly is way too confident for her own good and leaves plenty of openings, and Mr Reilly is pretty slow thanks to his huge size. The headmistress doesn't expect you to win the fight, just test you."

Raven recalled the last time someone had attacked her. It had been o one of the few times she'd been permitted to leave the tower. Her mother, Azar and herself had gone to visit the local market. The amount of people and the noise had overwhelmed the child, so she hadn't seen the man until it was too late. It had all happened so fast – one moment he was approaching her with such speed, something sharp raised in his right hand, the next he was flying back through the air, a small stall breaking under his weight as it caught him. She hadn't meant to do it, hadn't even thought about doing it.

"Jinx… perhaps this isn't such a good idea."

"You're not backing out now, are you?" The girl frowned. "You'll be fine – everyone always is."

"No, I just… I've never used my abilities that was before. I mean, what if something goes wrong? Someone could end up severely hurt."

"Why did that sound like you weren't referring to yourself?" Jinx asked, before shrugging. "If you think you can take them out, all the better. It might even make the headmistress like you."

"No, Jinx you don't understand." Raven replied forcefully. "Sometimes… my control slips, and bad things happen."

"It happens to the best of us." Jinx waved the girl's concerns off before pushing open one of the two large wooden doors they eventually came across, walking into an empty cafeteria lined with metal tables and benches. "Like I said, we'll worry about all that _after_ we've done the paperwork." She didn't waste time on choosing a table, sitting down on the one closest to the door before tapping on the top sheet of A4. "How 'bout we start with that identity of yours? So, you got a choice between usin' your birth name or completely changing your name."

Raven sighed, but let the matter drop, asking, "What did you do?"

"Change it completely. According to government files, I'm Jenny Sharpe. It's comforting to know that I have an untarnished identity to fall back on, should I need it. But, if you were tellin' the truth about the no last name thing, I don't think it really matters." She slid the top sheet of paper over to Raven as the girl sat down before standing up. "I'll find a pen."

The empath turned her eyes onto the sheet, reading the fields she was expected to fill in. There wasn't much. Name, gender, date of birth, nationality, town and place of last residence, immediate family…

As Jinx wandered back over, she told Raven, "Don't worry too much about anything but your name and date of birth - oh, and gender, or that could get a bit messy – unless you have anything particular in mind. The school can do the rest." She passed Raven a cheap biro before taking a seat next to her on the bench, sitting closer than Raven was comfortable with as she tried to make sure she could easily read the sheet.

The empath shuffled away before focusing on the first field. Her name. She knew she didn't want to use anything that would relate her to the Church of Blood, her father's church, so that meant her birth name was out.

"Just… make it something easy to remember." Jinx said, noticing the girl's struggle, and Raven nodded, before slowly writing 'Rachel'.

Picking a last name was slightly more difficult for her. She wasn't familiar with popular American - or otherwise – surnames, and looked to the kitten-eyed thief for help.

"You're not very creative, are you?" Jinx asked with a grin, before suggesting, "Murphy? Jackson, Howell, Robinson, Richardson, Abbot, Hitchcock, Cowan, Fisher?"

The empath eventually shrugged and went with 'Jackson', writing it down in her neat, slanted scrawl. She didn't bother making up her date of birth, and Jinx noted it with a small, knowing from the speed she'd written it that it was probably wasn't made up, and deciding it was something she needed to remember. Raven circled her gender as 'female' before signing on the dotted line at the bottom of the sheet and sliding it away, deciding the school could do the rest.

"'Fraid this one's gonna take slightly longer." The thief muttered as she slid the next sheet over.

It was double sided, and the subtitles on the sheet were held within boxes she was obviously meant to write in. She read through the titles, pausing when she came to the last two and asking Jinx sceptically, "What the hell?"

"You don't have to worry about those two. If we have the time we'll get them filled out before your clash with the trainer. If we don't, we'll definitely try and get the physical exam done, just because well, you never know how you're going to come out of the fight."

"But a _mental exam_?" Raven frowned, and Jinx shrugged.

"The school claims to train clear-headed mercenaries, not psychos." The thief flipped the sheet over and tapped on the first box labelled 'Medical Report'. "Any chronic illnesses, past injuries, surgery, allergies or disabilities go in here."

Raven thought hard about it, but couldn't think of anything worth listing. "No. I don't have any – not that I'm aware of anyway."

Jinx's brow rose in disbelief. "You serious? No allergies to peanuts? Old breaks?"

She shook her head. "No."

"… Alright then. Moving on. 'Previous Education'. Put down any previous schools, subjects learnt, your grades… that kinda thing."

"I didn't do grades as such, but I've done a great deal of studying on History, Languages, Sorcery-"

"Just do your best to sum it up into a few short sentences." Jinx interrupted, and the empath nodded.

Carefully, she wrote:

 _Written and spoken fluency in English, Romanian, Latin, Sumerian, Sanskrit and German._

"You speak Sanskrit?" Jinx asked, sounding surprised.

"I do, why?"

The girl smiled but shook her head. "No reason."

Raven looked up to frown at her but let it drops she continued to write,

 _Extensive teachings on the history of magic and sorcery, general history, basic sciences and philosophy. Home-schooled._

"Right, this is the fun bit. Skills includes everything from your magic to fighting, lock picking to… horse riding. Hence why they make the box so big."

"How much should I explain stuff?" Raven enquired, and received a shrug.

"Depends on what it is. For example being a black belt in jujitsu doesn't need explaining, but saying that you can negatively alter probabilities does. We'll go through it one thing at a time," Jinx smiled, and the girl nodded.

"Alright, empath."

"No explanation needed."

Raven nodded and wrote it in the box. "Telepathy?"

"Again with the self-explanatory. Just don't go reading my thoughts."

"Astro projection?"

The box was quite positively full when they had finished, even despite Raven's foresight to use small hand writing, and Jinx was feeling better and better about her decision to find the girl a place among them. After 'Astro projection' came 'telekinesis', ''spell work, summoning and glamour', 'levitation', 'teleportation', and 'healing magic'. The Halloing had purposely decided to leave off her abilities of possession, interdimensional travel, shape-shifting and occasional divination. They came slightly too close to the truth of what she was, and she doubted she could have managed to fit them in the box anyway.

Instead Raven turned her attention onto the next box, asking, "contacts?"

"Yeah," Jinx nodded. "Like gangs you were a part of, dealers… people who aren't above the law and could come in useful."

"Well that's another empty box," she muttered. The only thing she could have put in there was the Church of Blood, though she'd never had any personal contact with the cult, and once again it was too close to parts of her that she wanted to hide.

"Then it's done! Well, mostly…" The thief's eyes searched the documents for anything they might have missed before looking at the clock hung up on a nearby wall. "How about we try and get one of the docs to do a physical on you before your test with the trainer? We can do the psych afterwards."

"Exactly what does this medical check consist of?" Raven asked nervously as Jinx scooped up the paperwork and got to her feet.

"You know, the usual blood pressure, heart rate, eye check, everything and anything deal. You comin' or what?" Jinx frowned when Raven didn't move.

"What about the third sheet?"

The thief frowned down at the papers in her hand. "That's where you sign three years and then some of your life away to the devil. Thought, you know, might wanna leave it 'till later."

The kitten eyed their couldn't have chosen a better phrase, and Raven smiled slightly, almost feeling the urge to laugh, before she shook her head. "The headmistress _is_ kind of crabby, but trust me, she's no devil. No, I want to do this." She held her hand out for the paper.

(…)

Raven passed the balding man, her doctor, the sheet with all the boxes on and watched him check her 'medical history' section with a frown before resting his pen on top of the sheet.

"So you have no medical conditions I should know about?"

She shook her head, her eyes studying the various posters the man had stuck to the walls. "No."

He turned away from her and started typing away at his computer. "Do you smoke?"

"No."

"Have you within the past ten years?"

Her eyes snapped back to him as she asked in disbelief, "How many smoking five year olds do you know? Of course not."

"Do you use any form of recreational drugs?"

"Am I supposed to know what they are?"

The doctor turned to face her as he listed patiently, "Cannabis, cocaine, heroin, ecstasy; those types of things?"

Raven studied the man as though he'd hone daft. "Would you believe me if I told you I'd never even heard of those things?"

"Alright, I'll take that as a no, although don't take it personally when I say I'll still want to run a blood test. What about alcohol? How often do you drink?" He swivelled his chair back round to the computer.

"I don't."

She heard the man sigh. "Raven, was it? I've been working here a long time, and personally I couldn't care if you were shooting up with golden eyes four times a day or if you all but live at the liquor store, I just need the information for future dealings with you."

"Are you calling me a liar?" Raven asked, feeling insulted. "I do not drink, never have, and never intend to. Is that really so hard to believe? _Next question_."

The doctor sighed again but moved on. "Any chance you're pregnant?"

She only just managed to keep a handle on her surprise and her face was a picture of disgust as she answered, "No."

"Alright. Does your family have any history of medical conditions? Heart failure? Live failure? A history of dementia?"

"Not that I'm aware of," Raven answered as she went back to studying the posters, this one about breaks and fractures.

He finished typing before pushing away from the computer, and feeling the man's eyes on her, Raven looked round at him again. "Now, I'm going to check your reflexes, height, weight, eye sight, blood pressure, sugar levels, and lung capacity before taking some blood samples."

The empathy's expression fell as she quickly asked, "Is all that really necessary?"

"I'm afraid it is," the man nodded, getting to his feet. "We'll start off with your height. If you'd remove your shoes and go stand by the door under the rape measure…"

Raven hesitated but eventually slipped her boots off and did as she asked. He did everything that he asked, until they were both sat at the desk again. He was putting in all the information he had gathered as he told Raven distractedly, "Bloods next, I'm afraid."

Raven knew her blood wouldn't process as human – knew it would destroy any chances of being just one more student within the academy, even if it didn't recognise it as demon – and it wasn't something she particularly wanted any database to have regardless.

She heard the doctor move, felt him put the tourniquet on her arm, and knew her time was up. Raven looked up, her eyes finding the man's face, his attention on her arm, the sleeve of her leotard having been rolled right up. "Doctor?"

The man looked up as she'd hoped he would, and the moment their eyes met Raven dropped all her shields, opening herself up to every thought and emption crossing his mind. She honed in on that and concentrated on implanting her words within his mind as reality as she quietly lied, "You've already tested by blood, remember? All the tests came back fine. There's no point in doing them again."

The girl held her breath as silence enveloped them. What she had told the headmistress was true. She was, in theory, a telepath, and had all the 'perks' that came with it. The key word being 'in theory'. She had never practiced it; never dared to. Reading someone's thoughts was one thing, but mind control… The monks would be having fits.

Slowly and sluggishly, the man removed the tourniquet, repeating drowsily, "No… point…"

Raven smiled in spite of herself, careful to keep in control as she stood and said, "Now that you've finished, how about filling in that box on my paperwork so I can leave?"

She needed practice, she admitted to herself as she watched the man shuffle over to his computer, for what good was mind control if it was so obvious? A scowl coloured her face the moment the thought had taken form as guilt battled for control. That wasn't how she'd been raised to think, not even close, and she has to remind herself she was doing this for a valid reason. Generally, people on earth didn't believe in demons. She could not let them get hold of evidence that pointed otherwise. She stood and pulled on her cloak that had been off since he weighed her, clasping it back round her shoulders. The whirling noise of a machine caught her attention, and she watched as one of the boxes on the man's desk spat put a slip of paper. The doctor's hands were shaking as he attempted to separate something from the back of the sheet, and worried she was running out of time, Raven took it off him, not needing instructions to know what he'd intended to do.

She removed the backing in one smooth movement and pressed it onto her paperwork under the 'physical exam' box, the rectangle fitting perfectly within the lines, snatching the sheet off the desk Raven hastily retreated towards the door, flashing the doctor a shaky smile. Her hand on the door knob, she threw up her mental shields again, breaking her influence in the process, and quickly left the room, closing the door behind her with slightly more force than necessary.

She caught sight of movement out the corner of her eye as Jinx got to her feet, moving away from the line of chairs backed up against the wall of the corridor. "Done already?"

She nodded, not trusting her voice, fearing it would shake as much as the doctor's hands had as her guilt continued to torment her.

"Well, lets take a look."

Raven passed the sheet over and followed Jinx as she started walking.

"Aren't you little miss perfect? Clean health bill. Until your bloods come through anyway."

The empathy shrugged. "So, I get beaten up now?"

Jinx grinned. "You get lunch now. Unless you'd prefer to fight on an empty stomach? Your choice, but either way the boy's 'll be waiting for us in the canteen and I think we should let them know you're in, don't you?"

"Considering the headmistress is expecting me to 'prove' myself I'd consider these next few weeks more of a trial period than proof that I've been accepted," Raven muttered.

"Technicalities! Besides look at you – look at your paperwork! I won't be surprised if you pass these next few weeks. I _will_ be surprised if you don't pass with record breaking scores. Besides, you've got to pass, or I'm gonna find myself neck deep in shit."

By the time they'd reached the canteen it was getting on towards half twelve and the trickle of teenagers was steadily growing in size. Raven quickly spotted Mammoth, already sat at one of the tables and it didn't take her more than a few seconds to notice Gizmo next to him. Jinx didn't move towards them, going in the opposite direction instead, leading Raven over to a small queue at the far side of the canteen, grabbing two trays and passing one to the empath.

"Even if you ain't gonna eat, Mammoth won't turn down an extra helping. So, let's talk Mrs O'Connally. If she's a meta, she don't have any obvious talents like yours truly, but don't think that means it's going to be a breeze. She teaches fitness training and has more stamina than a gold medal cross country runner so don't think the longer you drag it out, the sloppier she's gonna become. In fact, I'd say your best bet is to take a few hits, let her arrogance seep through, and land a few attacks to surprise her. Now, she doesn't use any abilities, but that doesn't mean _you_ shouldn't throw everything you've got at her." As they reached the front of the small line, Jinx passed her tray over to a woman behind the counter. "And remember, no one expects you to win the fight."

Raven stared at the contents of Jinx's tray and muttered, "Is there a vegan friendly option by any chance?"

The thief laughed. "Not a chance in hell. Suck it up. People aren't built to be herbivores. Did you know there are four amino acids that the body needs that are only found in meat?"

The empathy scowled but passed her tray over, noting it down as one more rule she was already breaking. "I _did_ know that."

"Then don't feel too bad for the cute fuzzy animals," Jinx grinned as Raven took her tray back.

"That's not why I don't eat meat."

"Then why?" The girl asked as she led the empath over to Mammoth and Gizmo, and she shrugged.

"It's just how I've been raised." Because while her human genetics could happily survive, the lack of those four amino acids stunted the growth of everything linked to her demon genetics.

"Well, you better get over it quick 'cause you eat what they serve you or you don't eat at all."

"I figured," Raven muttered before taking a seat at the table the two boys occupied.

"You get in?" Mammoth asked, looking between the two girls.

"Yup," Jinx chimed in before Raven could say anything about the trial period. She looked at Gizmo. "Did I tell you, or did I tell you?"

"Alright, so maybe you were right. That doesn't make you any less of a clutch head." Gizmo frowned, watching the empath push her food around her tray before he asked, "so what have you idioms been doing all morning anyway?"

"Paperwork, health checks, the usual." Jinx shrugged. "Did I miss anything important?"

The small boy smiled wickedly. "No. Not at all. In fact you've got the lessons in worksheets from your teachers. I've taken the liberty of dropping them off in your room."

Her face pulled into an enraged scowl, Jinx leaned over the table and put her face inches from Gizmo's. "One, how the hell did you get into the girl's dorm? And two, what have I _fucking told you about going into my room?!_ "

The boy leaned back slightly. "Gosh, don't have a cow! I didn't touch anything!"

Gizmo suddenly dropped down under the table as the sound of snapping metal reached their ears, and Jinx sat back down, a snide smile on her face as she chimed, "Oops."

Mammoth let out a small snort of laughter before clearing his tray of food and – noticing Raven still pushing her food round the tray – asked, "You gonna eat that?"

"Nun-uh. Back off big guy. Rae's got some personal growth to be doin' in the form of her diet. She ain't leaving this table until she's at least had a few mouthfuls."

The empathy glared at the girl. "I'm sorry, I must have missed the message. Exactly when did you become my mother?"

"News flash," Gizmo muttered as he pulled himself to his feet with the table top. "She's the school's recognised 'leader' of our little group."

"I'm responsible for everything from your fitness levels and your team work, to your diet, and last I checked malnutrition doesn't equate to a good fighter." Jinx explained. "So eat up."

"You're not going to let this go, are you?" Raven muttered, and the thief shook her head. Raven's eyes dropped to her lunch, a stew-y mix of some dark meat and vegetables, and thought the nauseous feeling that washed over her. What she'd told Jinx was true – the monks had raised her on a strict vegan diet in attempts to better control her demonic half, but a mixture of time and 'avoidance methods' had left the staple component of most people's diet more than unappetizing.

As Raven continued to toy with her food Jinx continued filling the boys in on the plan for the rest of the day. "So at one thirty, Rae's got a face-off with one of the trainers, we've got a shrink to see, and we'll be good to go."

"One thirty?" Gizmo checked, grinning. "We have a free period then. We'll come watch."

"If you want," Jinx shrugged.

"Why do I get the feeling you're not coming to offer moral support?" Raven muttered quietly, but Gizmo heard.

"Because I'm not."

"Don't worry about it," Mammoth spoke up, "Happens to everyone. Kinda like some initiation."

The empath glances at him before forcing herself to at a mouthful of the stew, For a few seconds the meat sat heavy and pungent on her tongue before her body over-rode what her mind was trying to tell her and it was with a great force of will that she put her fork down and slid her tray across the table to Mammoth.

"See, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Jinx asked as Raven did her best to wash the taste from her mouth with her bottle of water.

Raven suddenly felt hungry – more so than when she'd first entered the cafeteria – and with a small twinge of regret she wondered if it would have been so bad to keep the tray of food. She finally answered Jinx with a dull mutter.

"You know no idea."

(…)

Jinx had been spot on with her guess on who the trainer was and within minutes of arriving at the school's gym Raven found herself in a large, sunken arena facing a woman with long salt and pepper hair tied back and a cocky glare. Raven was just one more student on an ever growing list and Raven knew the woman was certain on the outcome of the match – perhaps a little too certain.

The first punch took Raven straight on the jaw and she felt her body stumble back a few steps, as her head swung to the side saw the benches filled with students from the class they were interrupting, but she didn't feel the pain that should have burst under her skin, not yet. It was the first real fight Raven had been in and part of her mind had decided to attempt to protect herself from it. Numbly, she turned her head back towards the woman in time to see the second punch aiming for her head.

Instinct made her throw her arm up in an attempt to protect herself but it wasn't her arm that took the force of the blow. Raven heard a sickening ' _crack_ ' of bone and when she looked at Mrs Connelly, it was through a shield of black. The teacher was cradling her knuckles and cheers were coming from the benches sat above one side of the room. Raven did her best to ignore them as she willed the barrier to drop, wanting to worry about the uncontrolled movement of her soul self but struggling since it had protected her from the punch.

Raven started to back off to put some distance between them but she hadn't gotten far before the teacher chased after her, landing a high kick that bruised the empath's ribs and knocked her off her feet. She fell onto her back, all the air forced out of her lungs from the impact of the landing. Mrs Connelly tried to follow up with a kick to Raven's stomach that the empath narrowly managed to avoid by rolling out of the way. She'd only just managed to scramble onto her hands and knees when the teacher was there again. This time Raven's soul self lashed out like it had all those years before in the market place, a flash of black that launched the woman across the arena. The wall caught her surprised from seconds before the floor did and she stood slowly, a pained scowl on her face as she tried to rub a spot on her back with her uninjured hand.

On her own feet but still out of breath Raven held her ground as the teacher stalked back over, her stance loose and relaxed despite the ebbs of pain Raven could feel radiating from her. She didn't need to win this fight – Jinx had told her she wasn't expected to – but something deep in her very core told her she did. She didn't know how to fight with her body or soul self, she didn't know how to tell if the woman had left an 'opening' but something told her she was going to win anyway. She had to.

The teacher still making her way over, Raven decided to experiment. Feeling the dark abyss of energy at the centre of her being she grabbed it with her will, pulling and twisting it until she could feel it beginning to bend to her will. Happy, she threw out her hand as a guide and inches below a dark tendril seemed to grow like a third arm. It travelled with more speed than Raven had expected and the blade-like edge managed to slice into the woman's arm, drawing blood. Raven had felt the incision just as she had felt the cogs in the lock she'd tampered with the day before. She'd been expecting it, but she hadn't expected to feel the woman's blood as though it was on her own flesh and her shock and disgust broke her concentration, the dark mass dissipating.

The unusual attack and sudden pain had surprised the teacher but didn't do much to slow her down and before Raven could conjure up another attack Mrs Connelly had reached her. The young demon Halfling could feel she was angry. Angry, fed up and eager to be finished with the girl. Judging from her next attack she had also been playing positively nicely up until then.

The first fist landed on the soft skin of Raven's stomach, winding her which made her automatically double over. The next blow – Raven couldn't have said if it was one fist, two or an elbow – cracked down on the back of her head with such force she dropped to her knees, numbness telling her she had one hell of a headache to look forward to. The empath saw movement from the top of her vision but the attack never landed. Her head was so numb Raven couldn't have said if she was in control or not as the muscles in her legs bunched up before stretching, forcing her to her feet at a forty-five degree angle. Her shoulder pressed into the teacher's lower abdomen and her arms wrapped around her waist as she started running with such force Mrs Connelly had no choice but to go with it and do her best to keep her balance.

The crashed into one of the arena walls, the older woman taking most of the impact with her back. Raven released her before stumbling back, her head feeling light and dizzy and she noted she couldn't afford to take another hit to the head if she wanted to stay in the fight much longer. Instead she tried to go on the offensive before the woman could recover. Raven had never punched anyone before but she thought she knew the basics behind it. The empath clenched her hand into a fist and threw it towards the woman, throwing all her bodyweight behind it. She missed, the teacher having stepped to the side just in time and the bittersweet sting of pain bloomed across her knuckles as her hand literally _buried_ itself into the metal walls of the sunken arena. Slowly removing her fist Raven stared at the damaged wall in shock.

Taking advantage of this the woman quickly moved behind Raven and firmly pressed the side of her forearm against Raven's throat, blocking the empath's airway and tucking up against her back to stop Raven from stepping out of the hold. Raven's hand flew up to the arm around her neck and pulled on it desperately, trying to elevate the pressure.

"Two words and you can end this," Mrs Connelly said as though they had all the time in the world.

Jinx's words crossed through Raven's mind again.

' _You're not expected to win the fight'_

But Raven could feel the teacher's amusement, confident she'd ended the fight, and it irritated the same part of the empath that felt she _had_ to win. She decided to make use of her teleportation skills and with three muttered words – "Azarath, metrion, zinthos!" – she disappeared in a flash of black, reappearing on the other side of the arena.

Raven massaged the sore skin on her neck as she carefully studied the woman opposite her. The waves of irritation the emapth could feel had risen again, stronger than before, but she was also receiving strong feelings of amusement and she knew it was from the students watching and all at the teacher's expense. Lowering her hand from her throat Raven made herself relax before trying to manipulate her soul self for another attack. Once again all she managed to manifest was a simple tendril of dark energy but instead of simply lashing out she tried to wrap it around the woman like a rope.

It was a lot harder to control than she'd expected and her face tugged down into a scowl as the woman quickly dodged it. The energy snapped and she found herself fighting against it to keep it in shape. The backlash of her soul self recoiling felt like something had slammed into the front of her head. Mrs Connelly rushed forward, closing the distance between them with incredible speed. Still recovering from her own backfired attack Raven could do anything as the woman punched her three times in quick succession. The empath could taste blood as she collapsed onto her hands and knees, a dull ache quickly spreading from behind her eyes and down her neck making her body feel heavy and unmoveable.

"You've got spirit, I'll give you that." Despite the implications of the words the teacher managed to make it sound incredibly patronising.

A fist grabbed Raven's hair and the woman used her grip to drag the empath to her feet again and Raven didn't fight it, wiping at her mouth with her arm, wincing when her lower lip protested with a sharp sting. She waited until she had been pulled almost level with the woman before moving faster than she had in her life. Under any other circumstances the punch would have been relatively weak and worth no more than a flinch but it connected with the teacher's throat and the soft cartilage bent back, chocking the woman. Mrs Connelly instantly dropped the young empath as she stumbled back, coughing.

Raven landed on the floor face down and would have been ready to admit defeat had it not been for the small voice in her head telling her to get up. Her head felt like it might explode, her vision was blurred and all she wanted to do was lay there but she forced herself to her feet. Something warm and coppery threated to flood her mouth as she tried to breathe, and pressing her hand to her lower face she found her nose bleeding, the small but steady stream dripping down her chin.

Mrs Connerly approached the girl again as she stopped coughing, emitting feelings of anger, annoyance but also confidence, knowing she only needed to land one more punch for the fight to be over. Raven knew it just as well and she raised her arms in a feeble attempt to ward off the attack. Her soul self reacted to her sudden spike of fear and the blast threw the teacher back like a ragdoll and she landed all wrong, her arm twisting awkwardly beneath her. The room fell into absolute silence as everyone waited for Mrs Connelly to get to her feet. When she finally did there was a collective moan from the students and Raven almost joined in. The woman didn't approach Raven though, not straight away, and when she finally did she was supporting her arm close to her body, her lips pulled into a tight grimace of reassignment. Raven wiped at her mouth again with the sleeve of her leotard as the blood still threatened to choke her, trying to prepare herself for the next attack.

It never came. It was with an air of stubbornness Mrs Connelly mode herself the victor as she claimed, "Enough. I have a class to teach. Get yourself to the doctor and send him this way when you're done. My report will have reached the headmistress by the end of the day."

Raven couldn't quite believe her ears and was still waiting for the fight to continue when Jinx dropped down into the arena and patted the empath on the back before steering her away.

"Lets get you patched up. Can't say it was exactly a graceful moment for you and you've got a long way to go before you're fightin' to H.I.V.E standards but damn girl, you sure know how to take a hit! But don't worry, I've already come up with some ways of gettin' you closer to your potential before the week's up."

Raven wasn't worrying, not about that anyway, her head still in the fight and adrenaline still coursing through her veins. Jinx continued talking anyway as she led the girl through the bright yellow corridors, guessing what the report might say and talking about her training ideas. It was with some relief that they finally reached the infirmary and Raven was looking forward to the prospect of a few minutes in relative silence but Jinx followed her in, ignoring the doctor as she sat down on one of the dozen cots and continued talking, eventually forcing Raven to raise her hand and say, "can I just have five minutes of silence, please? My head feels like it's going to split in two."

Jinx grinned, undeterred as she replied, "That's what tends to happen after you get your head bashed in. You know, it wasn't a fight to the death. If you'd have backed out after she smashed her elbow into the back of your head no one would have said anything. I mean you're fresh off the streets – you're not expected to be proficient in martial arts."

Raven wiped at her blood nose again as the doctor finally made his way over with a small trolley loaded with medical supplies. She tried to avoid looking at him, afraid he would somehow realise she had invaded his mind earlier but she had no reason to worry as he said, "I was wondering when I would be seeing you again today. So what are we looking at?"

"Just about everything," Jinx piped in as the man soaked some cottonballs in a cleansing alcohol and went for the deep scrapes on the knuckles of Raven's right hand. The alcohol stung and it was an effort to sit still as instinct told her to snatch her hand back. "She took several good hits to the head and a kick to her chest. Doubt the others will leave anything more than a few good bruises,"

"How's your vision?" The man asked as he let Raven have her hand back, grabbing a small flashlight from the trolley. "Any blurriness?"

"A little," Raven muttered, gasping and turning her head a little too quickly as stars of pain burst behind her eyes when the doctor shone his light onto them.

"You might have a slight concussion. I know it hurts, but if you look at the light – I need to check pupil dilation."

The empath co-operated despite the pain and when he turned the flashlight off he didn't look any happier. Before he could order an overnight stay in the infirmary Jinx stepped in. "I'll stay with her and wake her up every couple of hours tonight, don't worry. We got it covered."

The doctor eventually nodded before asking, "You said something about your ribs?"

"No, Jinx did," Raven muttered. "They're fine, just bruised," She insisted, not keen on the idea of a stranger inspecting her.

"Very well. I'm going to give you some painkillers but I want you to avoid taking them unless absolutely necessary. Drink plenty of water and come find me if you feint or have any dizzy spells."

"And my nose?"

He felt the bridge of cartilage, making the empath jump, before declaring," It's not broken. Don't mess with it and the bleeding should stop on its own." Raven nodded and he offered, "You're welcome to stay here until it stops."

"Were good," Jinx quickly declined, "We've still got a few things to get done before the end of the day and Mrs Connelly is asking after you."

"I'll fetch those painkillers and get you be on your way."

The 'few things' Jinx had spoken of mostly involved cleaning up in the girls bathroom, it taking Raven almost half an hour from leaving the infirmary for her nose to stop bleeding and her to clean every last speck of blood from her face and neck. She was left with a swollen and split bottom lip, an ugly red bruise beginning to form on her cheek that spoke of blacker days to come and weeks of sickly yellow afterwards. There was a matching patch under her chin.

Eventually they found themselves waiting in a setup almost identical to the doctors waiting room only this time sat across from the door, so Raven could see the silver plaque that read 'Dr Fisher's Office'.

The empath was feeling nervous again and she fidgeted before asking, "Exactly what is this going to be?"

Jinx looked startled, having finally lapsed into silence. She shrugged. "She'll just get you to talk about stuff, ask questions… I dunno, Im not a shrink."

"Well surely the school's request you to see her before?" Raven frowned and Jinx nodded.

"For half an hour at nine thirty every first Friday of the month. That doesn't mean I know what she does. When I first got here it was all questions about my past, how I ended up here and how I felt about it. Now its more focused on the H.I.V.E and my 'relationships' with other students. Spouting random shit seems to work just fine for me. Apparently Mammoth doesn't speak at all for the entire thirty minutes but he don't exactly look like Mr Conversation so he gets away with it. I think Gizmo is the only one who takes it seriously and even then he just uses the time to slag us all off where we can't hear him."

Raven wasn't quite sure what the girl meant by that but she didn't get to ask as the doctor's door swung open and she was called forward.

(…..)

The woman had started straight away with Raven's past and the empath had answered with a mix of one word, riddles and questions that in the end told the woman no more than, no she wasn't a local and run-away would be a misconception. Dr Fisher, a young brunette woman who couldn't have been much older than thirty eventually let the topic slide with a smile and a 'perhaps you will find it easier to discuss with time' which had pulled a barely concealed eye-roll from the empath. Their next topic had gravitated towards the fight and the injuries Raven had received, it being such a common sight with new students the doctor didn't need to ask where they had come from.

The Halfling did respond with the truth then, or at least her perception of the truth.

"I'm late starting for a new student, I know that, and this fight was supposed to be a test of skills. I know I could have ended it before all this-" she lightly touched the bruise on her face, "but I don't know how to fight, at all, so I decided to show another no doubt useful trait I have. Durability."

"You feel like you have to prove your worth?" Dr Fisher asked with an expression as neutral as a white wall.

"I know I do," Raven answered bluntly.

She didn't bother reading the report the woman printed off and stuck onto the sheet, passing it to Jinx the moment she'd left the office. The hex caster flipped through the sheets carefully as they walked, nodding with approval.

"They're all done, so ready to face the dragon again?" Jinx asked, and Raven nodded. "She'll give you a time table and allocated dorm room before sending us off again, no biggie – I can even tell you what your timetable will look like, and we shouldn't have to lay eyes on her again until Friday morning."

"Why Friday morning?" Raven frowned.

"She teaches strategy class."


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Hi guys - sorry for the huge delay, can't really say anything to make it better other than while I may be VERY slow I am still writing!

* * *

When the lithe, pink haired thief had originally suggested joining the H.I.V.E, Raven hadn't expected to wake up to her first day feeling like she'd been hit by a truck. Everything aches, though the empath didn't look as bad physically as she'd expected to. After Jinx's fourth and final wakeup call at three thirty in the morning, Raven had given up on the idea of getting any more sleep and had headed to the showers.

A look in the mirror had shown her busted lower lip was busted no more. The skin was still tender but was no longer an open wound. The bruises on her cheek and chin were a sickly yellow. She knew by the end of the day they'd be barely visible.

When someone knocked on the door and Jinx stuck her head round the corner looking almost as bad as Raven felt, her mood improved slightly.

The thief stared at her, dazed. Almost a minute had passed before she found her voice. "You're awake?"

"Am I? I never noticed."

Jinx moved further into the room. "You actually don't look like you got the shit beat out of you yesterday."

"I heal quick," Raven quickly shrugged. "I did mention it on that form yesterday."

"I know but..." The girl shook her head. "How you feeling?"

"Rough."

"I'll bet. Think you can handle a day of classes?"

"Maybe. Do you think the headmistress would be impressed to hear I didn't attend my first day?"

Jinx was quick to answer. "No."

"Then I'll be fine." Raven moved from where she'd been sat on the bed and pulled her boots on. "What exactly have we got today?"

"History, then a free period, fitness class for two hours with your new best friend, Connelly, worship and physics to finish it off." Jinx led Raven out of the room and through the girls dormitory.

The empath could hear the noises of people scrambling to get ready on time. A few girls rushed past them and Raven noticed they all looked back over their shoulders at the pair, breaking into hushed whispers as they disappeared from sight.

"News travels fast here," Jinx said. "No doubt everyone knows about your entrance fight. You're the first person to make Mrs Connelly back down like that during an entrance exam. It's gonna gain some attention.

Raven wasn't happy about that and her already low mood plummeted. "Great."

"It actually is - it'll gain the headmistress's attention. I still can't believe you stayed in the fight for that long though. It was damn crazy, especially since I'd told you, you weren't expected to win."

"What was I supposed to do? I don't have any fighting skills to showcase. That and I did get a little competitive. I hate losing."

"You didn't exactly do that bad you know. Sure, it wasn't exactly graceful and you fight like a boy but some of it was damn impressive."

"Like what?" The empath challenged.

"Like when you punched a hole in the wall."

"...I only dented it."

"Who cares? That wasn't on the sheet yesterday. How come you didn't mention your strength?"

"Because I've never done anything like that before. I didn't even know I could." The empath was still in shock about that, mostly because she kept worrying about the consequences had her punch hit its target.

"Well you did say you've never really been in a light. Maybe you just didn't know about it because you've never had to use it?"

They'd left the girls' dormitory and Jinx was leading them through a maze of identical yellow hallways. She didn't reply to Jinx, not convinced in her theory. She had lashed out at the mothers, Mother Azar and her mother in fits of anger plenty of times as a child. Never had she demonstrated anything that would lead her to believe she had more strength than the average human.

"Don't be so sour about it," Jinx refused to let up. "You should have seen my entrance exam. She wiped the floor with me - literally. I was sore for a week. I think I only got in two hits. Mammoth didn't even get that - Connelly wasn't stupid enough to let him."

Raven's mood wasn't boosted by that. She's down up being feared, told her dangerous she was and how many lives she would one day destroy. A part of her was very disappointed with her herself.

Sensing the empath's mood, Jinx told her, "All you need is some training. I mean that dark tentacle stuff has a lot of potential. You just need to get used to using it."

"I've spent all my life so far trying to go the opposite," She muttered.

Jinx scowled at her."Are you always this negative?"

"Probably," Raven shrugged.

"Well stop it. You're making _me_ feel depressed."

"I'm not depressed, just realistic."

"Then you and me have two very different realities" The thief commented, and Raven couldn't have agreed more.

They entered the cafeteria and the noise was instant. Mixed with all the emotions of so many people it was almost overwhelming. She followed the hex caster like a shadow as they got in line for breakfast.

"Where did all the students come from?" Raven asked. She wasn't oblivious to the looks she kept getting from people and was trying to distract herself.

"The streets mostly. Some like Gizmo actively sought them out." Jinx shrugged.

"And you?"

"The streets. I'd been pulling off robberies for three years by the time a H.I.V.E scout picked me up."

As they reached the front of the queue Jinx took the tray she was offered and stepped aside to wait for the empath. Raven looked at the tray she was handed with bittersweet relief. Today's breakfast consisted of oats, two slices of toast and a portion of fruit, topped off with a bottle of water. It was completely meat free to her relief, though she would have preferred a cup of tea.

Jinx made her way over to where Mammoth sat, the teenager standing out like a sore thumb due to his hulking size. He was sat with Gizmo on their own, the other six chairs unoccupied.

"You're late." Gizmo scowled as Jinx put her tray down next to the short genius.

"What do you expect? I had to get up every few hours to make sure Rae was still breathing."

"How're you feeling?" Mammoth asked Raven as she took the seat next to him.

"Like I've been hit by a train," She muttered.

"She looks much better than she did yesterday though, doesn't she?" Jinx pointed out.

"Well there's already about twenty different versions of what happened out there," Gizmo shrugged. "Movin' on to more interesting matters, any of you snot munchers seen or heard the news?"

"You're going to have to be more specific than that," Jinx scowled as Raven carefully tested her food.

The bland sloppy mess reminded her of the monastery and she tucked in happily, ignoring the frown she received off Gizmo before he replied to Jinx. "All those sirens and that green shape we thought was Green Lantern? Turns out it was an alien, and she had followers. Nasty followers. She must be someone important because Jump City almost got its collective asses vaporised over handing her back over."

"How come they didn't?" Mammoth asked?

"Apparently Batman's little sidekick is in town. Had some other meta's with 'im too. Though of course the media weren't interested in them."

"Damn it. Don't think they're going to set up in Jump, do you?"

Gizmo shrugged. "Probably."

The only one spotting Raven's look of confusion, Mammoth told her, "Each team gets assigned a city where they're expected to 'hone' their skills or whatever. Jump is ours."

"And I bet Angel doesn't have any metas interfering in _her_ city," Jinx scowled. "This is so not fair."

"It's not that big a deal. I was just letting you know. We got Raven, remember? Hell, if every break in goes like the first, they'll never know we even exist," Gizmo shrugged. "They looked pretty pathetic anyway. Everyone knows Robin's nothing special. He hasn't got any abilities, then it was a shape shifter and a Cyborg from what I saw. Oh, and the alien. The news reporter said what she was but... a teramind? Tama..."

"Tameranean?" Raven asked quietly.

"Yeah, one of them."

"Well they're nothing to take lightly. I've seen them before. They're one of the best warrior races in this dimension." Raven could remember the time an envoy had gone to Azarath as they'd wished to access some records the monastery - for whatever reason - had on their past. Raven had seen many different races and people over the years seeking knowledge or records. Most of Azarath's wealth was paper. She remembered the tameranean warriors well though. All female, they had towered over everyone else with golden skin and fire red hair. They had been as intimidating as they had been friendly. Notably Raven had been able to sense their ever-changing emotions from the other side of the monastery. "They had been at with the citadel for close to a century now."

"The who?" Jinx frowned.

"Another alien race - or gathering of alien races, out in the Vega System." Seeing they still didn't understand, Raven shook her head. "It doesn't matter."

"She might have been a war prisoner then, if those other aliens were after her." Mammoth mused.

"Well done, genius," Gizmo remarked sarcastically, slowly clapping his small hands.

"Give it a rest, will you?" The hex caster scowled.

"I'll give it a rest," Gizmo replied, "Until History is over, because I know I'm the only one who revised for the test today."

"We have a test?" Mammoth's panic was instant, and Gizmo's reaction could only be described as a snicker.

"It's only on tacticians," Jinx tried to reassure him. "We've been studying for months. I'll be easy."

"For you maybe," Mammoth muttered glumly.

"We'll all fail if we don't get a move on." Gizmo got to his feet, no taller standing than he had been sat down.

* * *

The history teacher, a long faced man with an even longer nose and mop of dirty blonde hair, didn't seem to care in the slightest that he had a new student in his class. There was no introduction, no talk on what they'd been studying, just a textbook that was thrown onto her desk which he quickly told her to put away s they were having a test.

Her test paper was given to her in the same manner, and Raven got the feeling the man didn't enjoy his job. Throughout the test Raven was bombarded with other students emotions. Gizmo's confidence, Mammoth's panic. She only managed to complete half of the paper herself. Any tactician earlier than Caesar, she did not recognise and even the answers she could put down were sparse, though she figured something was better than nothing.

Mammoth looked ready to tear his hair out by the time their unenthusiastic teacher made his rounds to collect the papers. Jinx was sat rather calmly - had been throughout the entire exam - and flashed Raven a smile when she noticed the empath watching her.

"I'll grade these papers for next week. If any of you managed to get about a grade 'C' I'll be impressed. Those of you who don't will have to re-take the test again."

"You hear this Mammoth?" Gizmo quietly snickered.

"Class dismissed."

The room was filled with the sound of sliding chairs as students got to their feet and quickly moved to leave.

"So, how do you think you did?" Gizmo asked eagerly.

Jinx shrugged. "Not bad."

"I did terrible." The behemoth answered glumly. "I had a complete mind blank. I couldn't even remember names, never mind dates."

The shortest member of the group wore an expression of complete smugness. "What about you, newbie? Manage to answer any questions?"

"I believe I completed at least half the test. Modern tacticians are unknown to me, but I have done some reading on pre-1400s history. Ancient history is where I excelled however, so it was nice to see a question about General Immortus. I couldn't speak about his recent doing, but I wrote a fair bit about his past actions."

Gizmo frowned at her, momentarily deflated before he shrugged and proclaimed. "You still failed then?"

"Probably," Raven shrugged indifferently. "I studied magic and scriptures, not common war tales."

The three students slowly filed out of the class room, in no rush since they had a free period.

"So what we doin'?" Mammoth asked,

"You should study," Gizmo laughed, "Or you won't even pass a second time."

"Shut it Gizmo. No one cares about the history test," The group's leader silenced him. She studied Raven quietly a moment before asking, "How are you feeling?"

"Better than I was this morning."

"Good. I was thinking, we're seen how you can handle a fight but I wanna see how you are in a gym. Get a good idea on physical limits and stuff."

"I'm not sure I'm feeling that good," Raven frowned.

"You can't do any worse than Gizmo," Jinx frowned.

"Hey! Not my fault. I have a natural genetic disadvantage okay?"

They ignored him. "It'll be a good chance for you to learn how to use the equipment," Jinx pushed. "There's not exactly much else to do."

"You could show me where the library is. I get the feeling I'll be needing it a lot over the next few weeks while I catch up on classes."

"More than a few weeks," Gizmo sneered. "You've got about five years worth of classes to catch up on. Come on then losers - doubt Jinx or Mammoth have ever even been there before."

Gizmo had started walking off when Jinx pulled him back. "I _have_ been there before, and i say it can wait. We'll pass it on the way to physics from workshop this afternoon."

"Hey, the newbie asked. I'm just helping her out."

"More like trying to help yourself out," Jinx scowled at her short friend.

"As our team leader you're supposed to encourage and support our learning, not hinder it."

"I'll hinder something in a minute, and it won't be your learning. I say we're going to the gym, we're going to the gym." Jinx finalised. "Argue and I'll be giving you extra circuits on Saturday."

"Saturday?" Raven frowned, used to the concept of most schools getting the weekend off.

"Every team gets a slot over the weekend that is down to their leader to sort out on the assault course. Ours is every Saturday at 8:30am till 10:30." Mammoth answered her while Gizmo and Jinx continued with their power struggle. "If one of us drops behind or doesn't improve for a while, the first port of call for blame is the leader of the team."

"Sounds harsh," Raven commented and Mammoth shrugged.

"Supposed to have somethin' to do with building responsibility and leadership skills."

"I'm surprised anyone takes the job," the girl muttered.

"There are plenty of leaders - too many. Each just make sure they pick their team carefully."

Jinx butted in. "Unfortunately I was stupid enough to choose these two."

"And I was stupid enough to choose to follow you around."

"You two girls finished bitching yet?" Mammoth asked with growing impatience. "Where we going?"

"To the gym." Glaring at Gizmo, Jinx added, "And that's final."

She started walking before anyone could respond and Mammoth quickly followed her, the giant feeling more at him in a gym than a library. Raven glanced at the short genius before following, leaving him to walk at the back of the group muttering under his breath.

The school was still nothing but a maze to the empath, as Jinx led them through identical corridor after identical corridor. "Was there a point behind making this place a maze?"

The hex caster grinned. "Probably something to do with being aware of your surroundings or orientation or some shit."

"You'll get used to it," Mammoth added. "You can't get too lost - all the corridors link together."

"Yeah, so keep wandering in circles like this idiot and you're bound to end up somewhere eventually," Gizmo grunted.

"Why are we going to the gym?" Raven asked, before rephrasing her question. "I mean, what will this 'gym' tell you that the fight didn't?"

"How long and fast you can run, how much weight you can move with different parts of your body, for starters. And where're you're at skill wise so I can start putting together a training program to help you catch up with the rest of us. Remember, you're starting a few years later than everyone else. You've got to do a lot to make sure the headmistress keeps you."

"You failed to mention this back in Jump City." Raven frowned.

"What? You thought this would be an easy ride?"

They reached set of black doors identical to every other set they had passed. They slid open and Jinx led them through. She pointed towards a machine of some sort, all of them alien to Raven. "Treadmill. Now."

* * *

Two weeks passed before Raven found herself back in the head mistress's office. Two weeks of a gym teacher that hated her. Two weeks of countless exams and last minute cramming. Raven had missed a lot of meditation but found the pointless work and monotonous routine was a nice distraction in itself. Jinx stood beside her, and Raven could feel the nerves pouring from her. It didn't help herself feel any more confident about the summoning.

"Since arriving at the Academy, I have heard mixed things. Some of my staff _hate_ you-" Raven didn't have too much trouble imaging who that was, "-and that's a very strong word. Others are saying you're becoming their best student."

Raven decided it would be best to remain silent. She watched the aging woman with careful eyes as she waited.

"Within my own class, you have shown you have a sharp mind. A mind we can use. We can't, however, have disobedience. This is a finely tuned operation and I need someone who can follow orders. I would try and regain the respect of the teachers you have - in one way or another - insulted. Before that, however, I have a test. A test that will decide whether or not I want you in my school. That goes for the entire team Jinx. I'd bare that in mind. Your contract is in Jump City. You've been asked to remove new start up group of heroes that call themselves the Teen Titans. You'll leave for the city tomorrow. I expect success upon your return." She handed Raven a nondescript envelope. "You're dismissed."

The two girls quickly left. As soon as the door was shut behind them Jinx asked, "You gonna open it then?"

Raven wore a slight frown as she tore into the envelope, pulling out a single sheet of paper. Jinx read it over the empath's shoulder. "The contact's order. Man, this is big."

"I don't understand."

"This school - what do you think it's training you for?" The hex caster rolled her eyes. "Mercenary work, professional thugs, and in the higher classes government expendables. We occasionally get given gigs like these as assignments but taking out a team of superheroes? She obviously thinks you got a good shot - she wouldn't risk her name like that."

"Take out how?" Raven asked.

"Like it says here - at our own discretion." She pointed to the written line. "They don't care if we kill them, frame them or just send them packing." Jinx started walking, forcing Raven to follow. "We gotta let the guys know."

"Jinx, I don't want to kill anyone."

"Relax. Neither do I. We'll get to base tomorrow, put together a dossier of the targets and work out a plan from there. I'll be easy . I mean, what kinda name is "Teen Titans"? Bunch of bloody nobodies straight out of high school. I promise you. One taste of the real world and they won't be showing their faces in Jump every again."

"And what if we can't do it?"

"We go into hiding. The headmistress doesn't mess around."

Raven wasn't comforted by that idea. "You're risking a lot, vouching for me."

"From what I've seen, it's gonna be worth it," Jinx shrugged. "What's the point in living if you're not going to take a few risks?"

"I don't know - safety maybe?"

Jinx yawned. "Boring. Come on, let's tell the guys. It's officially school break until we've completed the gig. That's gotta be something worth celebrating right?"

* * *

AN: sorry about the shortness of this. I had left it a while so struggling to get back into it. I have already started the next chapter (much more exiting!) and I have also finished my management business course so I should have more time and chance to get it out for you guys!

Reviews welcome :)


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